a) Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a compactor for wastes, in particular for compressible trash, comprising a compaction plunger operating in the lower part of a trash receiving chamber of a compactor housing. The compaction plunger is horizontally displaceable to move the trash into a container adjacent to the receiving chamber and compact it in the container.
b) Description of the Prior Art
In known trash compaction machines having a horizontally displaceable plunger, the trash being compacted may slip behind the compaction plunger, especially when the receiving chamber is loaded continuously. In this condition, the return stroke of the compaction plunger is hampered by the trash present there, whereby the machine may be worn prematurely, shut down or damaged. It is already known in such machines to provide a cover apparatus closing the receiving chamber during operation of the compaction plunger.
In these known designs, the cover apparatus--which is activated by the compaction plunger and, illustratively, is pulled apart and compressed by it like venetian blinds--prevents trash from being loaded behind the compaction plunger which would hamper the return stroke in the manner described above.
However, the mechanically displaceable cover apparatus of the known systems incur the drawback of being, on one hand, susceptible to malfunctioning, and on the other hand susceptible to wear, and consequently the service life of such systems is short. Another drawback is that the known cover means occupy a significant space in the receiving chamber, and therefore the output of the known systems is comparatively slight.